


Tutelage

by greenhairedfae



Series: Disney femslash drabbles [13]
Category: Beauty and the Beast (1991), Cinderella (1950), Disney - All Media Types, Disney Princesses, Sleeping Beauty (1959)
Genre: Abuse, Anger, F/F, Face Slapping, Self-Hatred, Unrequited Hate, Unrequited Lust, Unresolved Emotional Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:41:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26708431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greenhairedfae/pseuds/greenhairedfae
Summary: A monarch is the spirit of her people. Aurora came with the destruction of her kingdom's economy. Her people resent her for this. How Briar Rose learns about her kingdom.
Relationships: Aurora/Lady Tremaine
Series: Disney femslash drabbles [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1459012
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	1. Etiquette

**Author's Note:**

> Tremaine is pre-first marriage and while older than Aurora, she is probably around 19. This is not tagged for a healthy relationship, Tremaine is a horrible person, I just thought this would be an interesting idea.

When Maleficent cursed the princess, King Stefan cursed the kingdom, or so the peasants whispered to one another in hushed tones in quiet places. And why not it was their wise women who were first to be thrown into the pyre of spinning wheels, unable to remove the curses of fairies and kings. The women suffered most, as it goes, absent anyone who knew the herbs, many died in childbirth and many more were left behind to cope. The spinsters, with unoccupied hands, led revolts and a turmoil that unseated nobles broke across the kingdom as thread became a valuable commodity.

It was for this reason that a merchant’s daughter had been selected as the uneducated girl-princess’s tutor. The Tremaines had profited from the chaos, before The Dawn, Aurora was reunited with her parents, and at last things may return to normal, memories of those lost in the flames set aside by a larger uncaring public that busied themselves with spinning industry in this coming rebirth. It was thus that Eleanor’s parents were amongst the most loyal who served Stefan. It was thus that Eleanor was set daily before Aurora in heavy brocades that made her sweat and tried to teach her how to hold her back straight and rigid when Aurora longed to move with her dancers’ grace, willowy, barefoot and light. 

She sighed her melodic sigh. “ I just don’t understand what all this is for. Surely, no one cares--” 

Eleanor slapped her across the face, not truly meaning to, unthinkingly. The girl really knew nothing.

“You fool--” In for a penny in for a pound, her father and her king would have her head for this, but here and now that did not matter. All that paled beside the lovely curls on the golden girl-dawn, higher than any of them. She needed to learn, had to be taught.

“ They all hate you. Your subjects, your nobles, the women of this land, your birth was a curse to them.” 

The princess was red faced, eyes dark and shining, but chin proud, aloft.  _ Good,  _ Eleanor thought  _ she’ll need that. _

“ I am teaching you something that they will never have.”

“And just what may that be?” Aurora smiled incredulously, her voice forcibly steady with a controlled rage.

Eleanor knew then that she would do anything for her, and so would many others. Such a face was dangerous, the sort men went to war over, and Princess Aurora, they called her Briar Rose, lacked control. 

Eleanor could have kissed her then, worshipped at the shrine of the girl-dawn like a leper seeking out the smallest touch of divinitus. But it was not done, and Tremaines did not do things that were not done. So she pushed those thoughts inside herself until they settled like lead in her belly, baring her teeth in the facsimile of a smile.

“Class.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aurora double checks her information

“Do the people actually hate me?” Briar Rose would ask later, on a different day, having scrubbed her face and anxiously put away her hurt feelings. Where Tremaine was harsh and wildly unpredictable with common status, her history tutor was kind, a fair-faced noble by marriage. Rose had been told the last bit about her tutor like it should mean something to her, as if she herself hadn’t been a peasant most of her life. 

Royalty was supposed to be innate, divine right.

“Who told you that?” Belle’s brown eyes were soft with concern.

“It doesn’t matter.” the princess insisted, “Is it true?”

Belle paused unsure of how to proceed, mouth a stiff line that betrayed the tension in her answer. 

“Then it is true. I was a curse on this land.” Rose bit the back of her hand and looked away, trying to preserve what dignity she had.

“It’s a bit more complicated than that.” Belle gently put her hand on the other woman’s shoulder and Rose took comfort in the movement, despite the shame she felt for needing such a thing. Briar Rose knew herself to be woefully, wholly unprepared to be to be the Princess Aurora, the Dawn.

This is why Belle’s explanation surprised her. 

“Your father, in your absence, made a great many decisions out of fear.”

No one spoke ill of her father, not even her aunt-- fairies, Briar Rose’s mind stumbled over what to call them, as it did when she was called by the name Aurora. For Belle to imply that her father had been mistaken was--

“What do you know of spinning?” Belle’s warm eyes searched Rose’s face and she was pulled back to the material world, where everything else felt sharp. She had been like this since The Sleep, unfocused and disconnected. Everything had felt ephemeral, like it could be ripped away in an instant and she’d be back in the clover-straw mattress laughing at the sounds of her aunts arguing in the kitchen about the mismanagement of their home. 

“I’ve never known how” fell dumbly from her mouth.

Belle smiled her wry smile. “No, I wouldn’t suppose that the opportunity would have arisen.” Spindles were reintroduced to the kingdom with Aurora; her portrait was painted with the princess holding one, made of gold and heavy like her crown. 

She would have preferred to be dancing away in the woods, but peasants, actual peasants had jobs and skills that she needed to learn about.

Belle took Rose’s hand and pulled her aside to a room with a wheel. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Initially I had intended 2 chapters one with Tremaine and one with Belle but Belle's was long and so I split it and I also may end up adding to this afterwards.

**Author's Note:**

> I realized that Tremaine's last name would probably not be Tremaine at this point. Oops.  
> There could be thoughts on how Tremaine keeps her name or we can all accept that I wanted for her to be recognizable as the same person.


End file.
